


Filling the Hollow Moments

by Unformal_Sorrelle



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Crack, Drababble Series, Episode: s05e08 The Hollow Queen, Episode: s05e09 With All My Heart, Episode: s05e11 The Drawing of the Dark, Fridge Logic, Gen, Humor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-02
Updated: 2015-11-02
Packaged: 2018-04-29 13:19:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,309
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5129048
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Unformal_Sorrelle/pseuds/Unformal_Sorrelle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A series of drabble-esque moments about 5X08, 5X09 and 5X11 in the humor genre. Featuring Leon's appreciation of crossbows, Merlin not going along with Gwen's story, the conspiracy of black clothes, Arthur always picking up the wrong point, Mordred's lack of being able to defend Kara, and Morgana's reaction to Merlin's magic</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Filling the Hollow Moments

**Author's Note:**

> This is a few moments based on scenes from 5X08... Yeah. Some are slightly cracky, most (if not all) are humor and there is some slight parody as well. For example, the first moment is based on the reoccurring season 5 favorite of people climbing straight up the walls and not getting seen by the guards. Some have characters making smarter choices. These are seriously all over the place. They are not, at all, in the same continuity as each other, although some of them could be.

Daegal stared at Morgana. A long stare, judging her sanity.

"You mean that I have to climb the castle walls? Won't the guards see me?"

Morgana started laughing. And laughing. It took her a while to stop.

...

As Leon looked at the boy he couldn't help but feel a sense of unease. He looked a little old to be catching toads, plus he didn't look near dirty enough. He also didn't have any toads. But if the Queen insisted...

"Wait," one of the other knights burst out, "You caught toads with the queen? What would you want toads for?"

"Among the youth they are valuable currency," one of the other knights said, "Very desirable."

"Aren't toads associated with magic?" The first knight sounded confused,

"They are worth their weight in gold." The other one responded, sounding very serious. "That's why sorcerers cough them up you see, how else would they get the gold to fund their armies and dark castles and what not."

Leon hoped he was joking. The first knight nodded his head and said "that made sense."

That was when Leon realized the biggest problem with Camelot's security.

...

Gaius looked at his king, prophesied to be the best king in all of history. Suddenly he despaired for any future members of the monarchy. This man couldn't even put on his own shirt. How was he supposed to run a kingdom?

Arthur still just stood there, bent over and looking like a fool. Gaius looked at the white garment that he had gestured to. Even to his own old eyes it didn't look like a shirt. Well, if Arthur was going to put him through this foolishness...

...

Morgana was about to pour her poison into Merlin's mouth when she paused. She looked at Merlin and then she looked at the obviously uncomfortable Daegal. Even though poisoning Merlin would be poetically fitting, she had to hesitate.

Poisoning never worked.

When Uther had been poisoned, it hadn't worked. Even a few weeks ago, Arthur got saved from the poison when it wasn't even supposed to have an antidote. Morgana herself, when Merlin had poisoned her, she still survived.

Add this track record to Merlin's incredible luck and it pretty much promised that he'd make it out alive.

With a sigh, she pulled out her dagger. Now she'd get her dress dirty.

...

"I'm sure I misheard you." Sarrum took a weary look at the queen of Camelot,

"I'm sure you didn't," she smiled,

"You wish the man who made you queen, who risked revolts and mockery for your elevation, dead?" He sounded skeptical,

"I believe that Camelot needs alternate leadership."

"And I don't believe you," Sarrum told her, "You are obviously trying to set me up."

"I could make it worth your while," she bargained,

"Or," he paused, "I could kill you first and when your husband is distraught, I kill him. Then I take my army and smash Arthur's loyal knights."

...

"So let me get this straight," Merlin said as he and Daegal were rushing through the forest, "When you were obeying Morgana, you were just getting me because I was the physician's part-time assistant, not because I'm Emrys?"

"I thought you're name was Merlin?" Daegal sounded confused,

"It is," he agreed, "It's just most druids call me Emrys. In fact, that should have given you up. Hmm, that would have been awkward..."

"What?" The boy was now more than worried about Merlin's mental state. After almost dying, most sane people wouldn't run off into a camp of bandits, even if they had powerful magic. Sane people also didn't run with an injured leg for hours. Now Merlin was confusing his own name. That didn't look good. Daegal hoped that his treatment for Morgana's poison hadn't caused brain damage.

"What are the chances that magic didn't get brought up when we were going there? I assumed you knew all about it. Then I suppose that you would have told Morgana. I wonder what would have happened to me?"

"What would Morgana do if she knew you were a warlock?" he asked,

"Kill me probably, in some agonizing way." Merlin rested on a tree for a second, catching himself before he tripped again.

"She just tried that." Daegal pointed out,

"Yeah, well," Merlin processed that, "She does that to everybody."

...

The assassin Sarrum had picked, a man that was very similar to Percival in that he spoke little and didn't believe in sleeves, inspected his crossbow. He grinned as it glinted in the light.

Then Leon just happened to come down that hall at that exact moment.

"That's a beauty!" Leon couldn't help but admire the crossbow. It wasn't as good as his but it was still a nice piece of craftsmanship.

The assassin stayed silent. He wasn't sure what to do.

"Just don't kill Arthur," Leon chuckled, "His manservant tried and all he got was to clean the stables."

The assassin raised his eyebrows.

"Sorry," Leon clapped him on the back, "It's an inside joke."

The assassin looked around and determined that he was, in fact, inside. He didn't see what was funny. Camelotians must have a strange sense of humor. He now had to wonder if that was the Queen's motives, that in Camelot killing the king was an 'inside' joke. People apparently thought it was funny.

He had thought that his kingdom was supposed to be the barbaric and cruel one.

...

"Hey, that's supposed to be locked!" Merlin yelled as they ran through the hall. Daegal looked at him,

"So?"

Merlin muttered a few words and the door closed, lock clicking into place.

"You don't want just anyone getting up there."

...

"Tell us all about your girl, Merlin," Arthur had said, "And about why you're limping."

Merlin felt absolutely furious with Gwen at that moment. He knew that it had to be Morgana's fault, Gwen had to spelled or enchanted, but at that moment he couldn't make the difference. He had just almost died, suffered from a poison for over a day, and Daegal had died. And now Gwen expected him to make up a story to reinforce her identity. He literally couldn't do it, he was exhausted and outraged at her presumption that he'd bow to her whims. So he wouldn't.

"Arthur, when I told you I have no girl I am telling you the absolute truth." Merlin looked him in the eye, "I haven't had 'a girl' in years, and she's dead now anyways." He continued a tad bitterly, unable to contain everything. "I was gone because the boy who saved your life asked me to go heal his sister. Then, Morgana came upon us and poisoned me, threw me off of a cliff as well. That's why I'm limping if you're so keen to know. I spent the rest of that day in and out of consciousness, unable to even move myself as my body was shutting down. The boy who saved you, his name was Daegal by the way, managed to help me in the end. If he hadn't then I'd be lying dead in the forest right now. He then warned me of Morgana's threat to you and we ran back to Camelot. You know the rest."

He watched as Gwen blanched, her story shredded to pieces, and Arthur looked at him as if struck dumb. Arthur swallowed, blinked and actually looked at him. The king noticed how pale he was, the blood that still slightly stained his forehead, and that he was obviously not in the best of health.

"So you were with Morgana?!" Arthur completely missed the point, "You're courting my sister?"

"Arthur," Merlin gave him a look, "Seriously?"

...

"Gaius? How do you do it?" Merlin asked him, staring at Daegal's cairn.

"Do what, my boy?"

"Not be affected by the curse."

"What curse?"

"The curse that kills anyone else that finds out about my magic."

"You can't seriously believe that!" Gaius looked shocked,

"Lancelot, Freya, Will, Daegal, my father, a lot of enemies..." Merlin trailed off, not feeling like listing every name but knowing that he'd given a good demonstration.

"That must just be a coincidence," Gaius said, but his eyebrow was up.

"Big coincidence." Merlin muttered bitterly, "But if Arthur ever finds out... I just wish it would work on druids."


	2. With All My Sense

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Not necessarily connected drababbles on 5x09

The royal tailor was puzzled at the recent order that her royal highness had put in recently. Black? The tailor knew the Queen loved color, she always wore pastels or, now that she could afford it, rich colors. Black was not Queen Guinevere's style at all.

The tailor would have thought that it could be for morning her brother, but the Queen had only done that for his funeral. The Queen had not worn so much as a black ribbon in his memory since. That eliminated the only sane possibility.

The tailor could see no reason for the Queen to desire a black dress and a black cloak. There was only one thing that people could do in black- skulk around the castle and\or make mischief. The tailor recognized the signs. It had happened three times before.

The first time it happened was with Morgana. Morgana decided to commission a lot of cloaks before her first takeover of Camelot. Those were mostly bright red, which was common in Camelot, so they hadn't raised much suspicion. However, Morgana had ordered a single black dress right before she was suddenly the Queen of Camelot. The tailor didn't actually see the dress on her until her next invasion of Camelot so she didn't realize it at first. That time she had ruled out the dress as some odd irony.

The next time was when Agravaine had come to Camelot. He came with a pure black wardrobe and only asked for more black. The tailor had found it interesting but nothing more. She found it suspicious that he took to taking fast rides into the bandit infested forest and that he was always creepy but she hadn't known enough to see it for what it was.

Lancelot. Just, Lancelot. Came in pitch black, only wore raven for the rest of his life- already dressed for his funeral. This was what had raised the flag.

When Agravaine's true allegiances came out, that was when the tailor knew. Anyone wearing black would be evil.

She had ignored the truth for too many times. It was time for the tailor to do her duty. The tailor would warn the King like any good citizen would. She knew he wouldn't believe her, not with so little evidence, but the tailor had a plan. The next time the Queen dressed in black, the tailor would get the King to go to the forest and see it for himself.

The plague of evil clothing would lose it's foothold in Camelot if it was the last thing that the tailor would ever do!

...

"I don't smell like enmity!" Merlin pulled away from the Dochraid as fast as his old bones could jump, "I took a bath yesterday. And besides, you can't smell something like 'enmity'. What do you do, label anyone who smells your enemy? What's with all these crazy sorceresses!" He asked the world,

"You are Emrys." The weird woman-thing said, "You are no friend of Morgana Pendragon. You shall never succeed in freeing your queen!"

"Are you even a sorceress?" Merlin ignored her, having heard the villain speech to many times before,

"I am the-"

"Oh, a 'the'. Another one. _The_ Cailleach, _the_ Disir, _the_ Great Dragon..."

...

"One the most powerful of sorcerers would ever dare attempt the spell."

Merlin had to smile, "So it's just right for me then?"

...

Arthur watched Merlin ride back into Camelot, staring unhappily out the window. Merlin and Gaius were devising the plan and until after that, Arthur was stuck waited. He was the king of Camelot and he was absolutely powerless without his manservant and the court physician. There was something strangely poetic about that.

Then again, Arthur had always hated poetry. Especially after Leon thought he loved it.

That was when Arthur noticed something. He checked his belt and practically jumped when he found it empty.

Why had Merlin taken his sword?!

...

"I think you are plotting against me."

"What? Merlin, why ever would you say that?" Gaius raised an eyebrow,

"I just told you I don't think I can do the spell, especially when I'm trying to hold an aging spell. What if it gave out on me? I don't think Arthur would take it well even seeing _the_ Great Dragoon again, much less see him become me!"

"You will find the power Merlin, you must have faith."

Merlin gave him a lot look. Gaius's eyebrow went even further up and Merlin had no chance at winning the staring contest.

"You are already expecting me to depend on the power of true love." Merlin reminded his mentor, "Now you want me to depend on getting a power boost out of nowhere?"

"What is this really about, my boy?" Gaius asked,

"I found a black dress, your size, today. You're just as spelled as Gwen is, aren't you?"

...

"Do I want to know why you know this sorceress?" Arthur's nose twitched slightly as he looked at Gaius. The king noticed that ever sense the sorceress's identity had been revealed, Merlin had started squirming and death glaring Gaius.

"It would be best not to go in to details, sire." Gaius evaded, sending a meaningful look to his ward. Arthur didn't want to know what about.

Merlin made a face that would have scared off an angry Morgana.

...

"You are trying to kill me!" Merlin declared to Gaius.

"My dear boy, I would never do that to you."

"Then you must have a grudge against me or are really bad at coming up with stories. The tavern was one thing, but this? It's almost like you want me to reveal my magic to Arthur in the worst way possible!"

...

The tailor looked at Merlin extremely weirdly when he requested an old black dress.

...

Arthur was glad that Merlin had decided to stay silent for the rest of the journey and didn't look behind him for another two miles. Even when his eyes saw that he manservant wasn't with him, it didn't process through his brain.

He left Merlin, yet again, without a thought.

And the fandom screamed.

...

"I need to stop falling off cliffs!" Merlin told himself, "What is this, like the third time in a few months?"

"Hey Merlin," Arthur calmed, a smirk declaring trouble was coming, "Just because you're a Merlin doesn't mean you can fly."

Merlin grimaced as Arthur smiled, obviously proud of his quip.

"Yes, sire." The servant made his displeasure very clear,

"You get it?" Arthur continued, "A merlin is a bird and birds fly."

"I am well aware that birds fly Arthur."

"You have no sense of humor Merlin," Arthur complained,

"It's more like you can't make a good joke."

"Shut up."

...

"Why don't you trust me?" Mordred finally asked, tired of Merlin acting awkward around him,

"Oh, I trust you." Merlin told him,

"No you don't. You treat me like I'm a danger to Arthur."

"Exactly."

"You trust that I'm dangerous?" Mordred looked slightly like a hurt puppy.

"You will do something very big in the future." Merlin said vaguely. Then he got an idea. "It is your destiny to be the ivy to Arthur's tree, the dusk to the light of the future dawn."

"What?" Mordred looked extremely confused, "Tell me what I'm going to do."

"You will be the closing of the forest, wrapped in flame." Merlin felt his lips move into a light smile,

"Stop with the riddles, just tell me plainly!"

"Look kid," Merlin said, "You don't get to find your destiny out without wading through the same riddles I did."

Mordred didn't look happy about this and Merlin suddenly understood Kilgharrah more. No wonder the dragon never said anything clear. This was fun.

...

"I'll go handle the dragon." Merlin volunteered, already running for it.

"Wait," Mordred protested but the warlock just continued on his way. Merlin yelled a few words at the small dragon and the creature flew away like a scolded child. "Or not..."

Apparently Merlin could control dragons. That was sure handy.

"Could you teach me how to do that? It's so cool!" Mordred asked him when Merlin got back,

"Nope."

"Please?"

"Not a chance."

"But it's so cool!"

"Mordred," Merlin groaned, "Don't."

"Please? I'll do your chores for a week."

"Mordred!"

...

Arthur watched Merlin disappear with the dress with faint amusement. Merlin sure was rather defensive. Arthur had to wonder about his manservant sometimes. He was a quirky one to be sure.

Someday, Arthur would ask why.

Tomorrow he'd tease him about them.

...

Mordred walked away from Morgana, a frown on his face. He didn't like causing people harm but he had to protect Arthur. He sighed.

Suddenly a large-ish blue box appeared and spat a younger Merlin out.

"You're stealing my lines!"

...

Mordred was glad that Arthur was safe. He was about to look for Merlin when the oddest person he had ever seen appeared. An old woman who was familiar somehow...

Even Arthur noticed. Who was this Dolma?

Then Mordred had to ask where Merlin was.

Oh.

 _What_?!

...

"Why is a little pond called a caldron?"

...

"Remember, remember when I asked you to marry me," Arthur looked into his wife's eyes, "And you said with all my heart. There was no subterfuge there."

Gwen blinked and her conviction wavered, the spell weakening. Then it snapped back.

"And then you banished me out of the only home I'd ever had!"

"Arthur!" The Dolma groaned, shaking 'her' head,

"I didn't want to." Arthur pleaded,

"And I don't want to get wet." Gwen glowered.

...

Merlin stared at Arthur, kind of hurt. The king was going to leave him again. That just wasn't right.

Arthur must have gotten brain damage over the years. That was seriously the only explanation. He had memory problems and probably needed spectacles, because no one could be that oblivious.

Otherwise, the greatest king ever born was really stupid.

...

"You did that back there, didn't you." Mordred said, "I admire you for it."

Arthur looked behind him, not sure what to say. He had heard too much to hold in anymore.

"I have ears you know!" The king finally reminded them,

Merlin blanched, remembering that Mordred had very explicitly called out that he had magic.

"Arthur, I can explain!"

"Oh really?" Arthur's eyes were big and wide, he cut quite an imposing figure on his horse.

Merlin was going to kill Mordred.

"I can't wait to hear this," Arthur continued, "It looks like you really are a girl after all!" The king chuckled.

Merlin was left speechless.

"But, but, my magic!" Merlin protested. Arthur was more concerned with how he had turned into an old woman than the fact that he was a warlock?! That was just... Horrible!

"What does it really matter? Gaius has magic too and he's never done Camelot any harm." Arthur brushed off, "But this? This is priceless."

Merlin was going to _kill_ Mordred.

"And I have to ask; Mordred? Why would you admire Merlin for turning into an old woman?" Arthur glance at the young, reddened knight.

"Err..." Mordred looked around nervously,

Merlin felt a little better.


	3. The Drawing of the Dumb

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Not necessarily connected drababbles on 5X11

"If she was the woman that you loved, what would you do?" Mordred asked, and Merlin glared.

"The woman I loved? What did I do? Do you really want to know?!" Merlin surprised the angry young man. Freya was a quick way to get Merlin upset, her death was a wound that had never healed. To have Mordred, the boy who would kill Arthur, even elude to her- no matter how unintentionally- was enough to make him lose his temper.

Mordred didn't answer, shock evident on his face. Even though he was used to Merlin's cold hate, Merlin had never really yelled at him.

"I freed her from a scumbag bounty hunter. He kept her in a little cage on a wagon and planned to make some money off of her from Uther. She was a druid, just like your Kara. But unlike Kara she didn't seek to hurt anyone."

Mordred bristled at this but didn't dare interrupt the angry warlock.

"We were going to run away together," Merlin told him, "Just like you want to do. We were going to get a house by a lake and live in peace. I was prepared to leave my whole destiny for her."

"Why didn't you?" Mordred said, even though he was sure that he didn't want to know,

"Arthur killed her."

Mordred gasped, not comprehending how Merlin could continue to be loyal after such an occurrence.

"She was cursed to be a monster at night and Arthur thought he was protecting his people." Merlin explained, the pain evident in his voice, "I can't blame him. You can't blame him for Kara either."

"Why not?"

"He thinks he's protecting his people."

"Kara doesn't wish to harm anyone." Mordred argued,

"Mordred," Merlin sighed, "She's a crazy little psycho who's tried to kill Arthur without provocation and is an unrepentant extremist follower of Morgana."

"She doesn't know any better!" Mordred defended her, knowing that his words were pretty weak. Unfortunately, Merlin's arguments weren't wrong; just a little exaggerated.

"So you want Arthur to release an attempted murderess because she didn't know that killing people was wrong?"

"But- but- she's very dear to me!"

"She's the one who seems to want to die." Merlin commented, "You know that Arthur doesn't really want to kill her. He hates executions. But she did try to stab the king and then admit her allegiance to Morgana."

"She-she... Oh, forget this." Mordred turned and walked off, missing the days where Merlin would have been happy for his to leave and never return.

...

Mordred was not amused when Merlin was proved right again when Kara stabbed a random guard.

...

He really wasn't happy about her bloodthirsty screaming at him to kill his friends.

...

He really should have listened to Merlin.

...

He kneels in front of her; his words leave no room for error. As much as she wishes to deny this knowledge she is too broadsided to even try.

Merlin is Emrys.

Her thoughts aren't words. This has unhinged her. In time she will be better but now the flood of emotion sweeps her away. Her already broken mind has no chance of defense.

A whirlwind of horror, a storm of shock. There is a maelstrom of wrongness tugging at her soul. The fear that has always coated Emrys shrouds her. A slight, insistent wind gives her anger.

So strong are these emotions that her ever present pit of hate is silenced. For once, the poison and corruption of Morgana is overwhelmed by something else. The madness opens it's jaws, ready to consume the tide after she finishes chewing it.

A curtain of denial closes that off. Denial is her only shield now. She's knows it can't last long, it's already fraying from the wind, but she clings to it. She doesn't want to be lost at sea.

"How do you know this?" Her lips whisper. It's unattached, it seems like. Morgana isn't actually asking the question. She doesn't want the answer.

"Emrys is prophesized, my lady. All of my people can recognize him." Mordred says. She barely listens, trying to hide. Her ears have other plans and her shield is riddled with poisoned arrows.

She can form sentences now, behind her shield. Distanced from the flood, distracted from the pit.

Merlin could not be Emrys. She would have known it before.

He was a manservant. He was loyal to Arthur in ridiculous measures. He was weak.

Arguments came with the wind.

Merlin had poisoned her, when she had believed them to be friends. Merlin had known where druids where to help her, only to bring Arthur's men chasing after him. Merlin had brought young Mordred to her chambers to help him, and then tried to back out.

Merlin had killed her sister. Ruined her plans. Always lurked in the shadows.

The shield was blown away with the force of a hurricane.

Of course Emrys was Merlin. No one had ever done her more harm than that idiotic servant boy. In fact, his stupidity was nothing more than a façade, his whole life was nothing but an act. He had always meant to destroy her.

He could have helped her in the beginning. Before Morgause came, before the hate and madness. But he didn't.

Merlin was a traitor. Traitor! Fiend! A monster... Her destiny and her doom.

"I will kill him." Morgana hissed, her fists clenching her throne like it was his scrawny little neck. "He- he will die. I _will_ kill him." Her words were limited by her emotions.

"He killed my Kara." Mordred admitted, "He told Arthur... I trusted him!"

Who Mordred trusted, Merlin or Arthur was unclear.

"I trusted him too, one." Morgana's voice was thick, "And he poisoned me. He left me to suffer alone, to be scared of my own magic!"

Never again.

"I will not rest until I crush his skull under my foot! Not until I kill his precious Arthur within his sight!" Morgana raved, coming up with anything gruesome that would roll off her tongue. Mordred looked sickened but there was also a fanatical gleam in his eye, the need for vengeance.

And then one of her Saxons ruined the moment,

"Then you're sure going to be sleep deprived."

To say she blasted him against a wall would be an understatement.

...

*IN THE NEAR FUTURE*

"What do you mean that Arthur would have let Kara live if she'd just said sorry?!" Mordred gasped.

"I told you she wasn't trying to survive." Merlin nodded.


End file.
